The Risk of Color

 

  If you know me at all then you probably know that I have an obsession with Superman. (Ok, the point of this thought is not to reveal all of my obsessions to you)

 

Last night my 9 year old son Clark (Yes, that is really his name) and I were coloring at the table and of course it was a Superman color book. He had a box of crayons that had 164 crayons in it and before we started coloring, he carefully selected the "6 standard Superman colors" for his page and as soon as he started to color, I began to use every single crayon in the box.

We did what you always do when you color a Superman color page. We hummed the Superman theme song and talked about what it would be like to have super powers and what we do to the bad guys that threatened the safety of Metropolis.

As we talked and colored I could see him glancing at my reckless use of color and getting annoyed with me until finally he could take it no longer and burst out, “Dad!!! Why are you using ALL of the crayons? You are supposed to use these certain crayons if you want Superman to look right!”

 

What? Six colors? Use only six colors when there is an entire box that is full of crayons and they are screaming to be used!

 

Yes, I used all 164 on my picture even the silver, gold and white and of course the burnt umber (Not sure what an umber is or why someone would want to burn one) because I had them all at my disposal.

 

I said, “Son, you use all of the crayons because you have all of the crayons to use. Life gives you colors, why limit yourself because someone else has decided that there are only six crayons to make a picture complete?”

 

 

I honestly believe that we are afraid to use all of the colors in our crayon box of life because we are afraid of messing up the picture. We have been told that the picture is supposed to look just like one that is shown to us by another person and if we differ from their color selections then our page will not be "perfect".

 

So we cautiously select the pre-approved colors and we try to stay perfectly in the lines and we get upset if we smudge because the picture needed to be "just right".

 

Who convinced you that you were only to display certain abilities and that the picture would be messed up if you displayed all of them?

 

I want to show you something that came to mind as we colored and it is the thought that i was able to share with my son while we had the time together.

 

Most of us have heard this story in relation to what we need to be doing FOR God and it is rarely presented in the light of what I believe it was intended to be presented in. This is not a passage about doing FOR God as much as it is a passage about what we can now do FROM God.

 

"For the kingdom of heaven is as a man travelling into a far country, who called his own servants, and delivered unto them his goods. And unto one he gave five talents, to another two, and to another one; to every man according to his several ability; and straightway took his journey. 

Then he that had received the five talents went and traded with the same, and made them other five talents." ~Matthew 25:14-16

 

This "Kingdom of Heaven" is very much like that box of crayons. We ultimately make the personal choice to be able to experience this here while on earth.

 

 I believe it is speaking about out our life.

 

How much of Him do you want to experience? How much of what you have been given you do you want to bury because you are afraid of going outside the "lines"?

 

Can I make a suggestion?

 

Take an honest look at your box of crayons ( life) and look at the variety of colors that God Himself has given you to use on the picture.

In the end, it is no one’s fault but our own for leaving unused crayons in the box. God has given YOU everything you need to make a seemingly ordinary picture explode with brilliant and beautiful detail, so why settle?

(The Picture with every one of the 164 crayons)

 

It boils down to us being willing to take a risk.

 

Risk a mistake.

 

Risk making a mess up of things.

 

Risk the colors colliding and blending.

 

Risk even ruining the picture because great art is always born out of risks.

 

Don't think that the picture is about you. It is not about you as much as it is about the one that you color for in the first place.

 

(This was one that Clark colored for me. The colors are random and wild, and the picture stirred my heart because of the love that was put into it.)

 

 

Today, don’t be afraid to color with all the crayons and don’ be shocked to see something amazing take shape for you when you do.

 

 

Coloring with you,

~Dan